West Cork and Peter Rosser Winning Composers Announced

West Cork and Peter Rosser Winning Composers Announced

Works to receive performances in Bantry and Belfast.

The winners of both the West Cork Chamber Music Festival Composition Competition and the Peter Rosser Award have been announced.

The West Cork Music competition sought works for string quartet, four of which have been selected for performance during this year’s West Cork Chamber Music Festival. The works will also be workshopped with 2017 composer-in-residence, Donnacha Dennehy. Each composer will receive €500.

The West Cork winners are Martin Keary for his work Bangalorian Civic Duty; Daniel McDermott for Sleamhnan; Alex Dowling for Line Drawing; and Emma O’Halloran for Flashover.

Speaking to The Journal of Music, Keary said,

I was really delighted to have been chosen as the winner this year. I’m really looking forward to the battering I’m going to take from the quartet regarding all my bespoke extended technique!

Since many of my relatives live in India, I’ve come to know the country pretty well and I’ve long been fascinated with the cavalier attitude that many of the locals have for rules that we take for granted in Europe. This multifaceted attitude and how it affects the country for better or worse is what led to the creation of this string quartet and I’ve tried to portray it as accurately as I can, warts and all.

Three emerging composers have been shortlisted for the second annual Peter Rosser Award by Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble. The winning composers and works, which will be workshopped and recorded by the ensemble, are Matthew Rowan’s Grooves Become Walls, Timothy Doyle’s Closer and Daniel Barkley’s Five Go to Mystery Moor.

Daniel Barkley also received an honorary mention in last year’s competition. He told The Journal of Music:

I’m super-delighted to have been shortlisted for this year’s Peter Rosser competition. Last year I was lucky enough to receive an honorary mention in the inaugural edition of the competition, which resulted in two performances by Hard Rain. This year, I’ve made it to the final three and am looking forward to hearing performances of all three of the compositions.

The award includes three prizes of £1000, £500, £250 and is given in honour of the writer and composer Peter Rosser (1970–2014), who was also a regular contributor to The Journal of Music.

For more on the upcoming performances, visit https://goo.gl/phoMXB (West Cork) and https://goo.gl/Am7Ldp (Peter Rosser Award).

Published on 10 May 2017

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